I've never heard of this happening before, but I think that its a very classy move by Star Alliance.
If you had Gold or Silver status on the SpanairStar frequent flyer program, you can transfer that status to one of the following member carriers programs:

This was announced well over a week ago by Star Alliance. I pop into the Star Alliance Facebook page every day or two and some people seem to be enraged over the fact that they "only get status and not the miles". You would think it is great PR, but greedy people tend to be irrational thinkers.

I personally think this is a great move by Star Alliance. There is really nothing binding them to any sort of compensatory action like a status match. Very generous.

Quoting planenutz (Thread starter):If you choose Air New Zealand Airpoints, you will still have to pay the joining fee.